DOES sex the night before playing sport help or hinder performance?
It’s an age-old question that many coaches, mostly in elite sport, agonise over in pursuit of a winning edge.
Some choose to put in place bonk bans, with a memorable one imposed at the 2006 football World Cup by England manager Sven-Goran Erikkson.
The Swede refused to allow the WAGS (wives and girlfriends) – including Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham – to set foot into camp.
The question of whether to abstain or not came on my radar earlier this month when I stumbled across some quotes from Aussie tennis great Pat Cash about the issue.
Cash recalled a period about 20 years ago when he was coaching Mark Philippoussis, who was dating glamour tennis girl Anna Kournikova at the time.
The 1987 Wimbledon champion said he struggled to rein in Philippoussis from any match-eve, between-the-sheets action when he was dating the Russian.
“One of the trickiest problems I encountered (as his coach) was how do you tell a fit, eligible young man that it’s probably not a good idea to spend the night with Anna Kournikova before a big game?” Cash said.
Philippoussis made two grand slam finals (1998 US Open, 2003 Wimbledon) but never took home the major silverware. Who knows whether his bedroom bravado affected his performance?
Scientists say there is no physiological evidence to suggest that sex before competition is bad.
Some studies have even suggested that pre-sport bedroom activities may help athletes by raising their testosterone levels.
I asked a few local football and basketball coaches this week whether they had considered putting in a pre-game bonk ban on their players.
Wade Hancock, the star playing coach at SFNL club Wentworth Roos, said he had spoken about the issue just last week with his group, where the average age is 24, and half of the players are single.
“I don’t have a policy, but a lot of the boys live by the rule of not doing anything the night before a game,” he said.
“It could be a superstitious thing, but think they feel it gives them a bit of an edge and they have a bit more go on the field.
“When I was playing state footy, we worked closely with (AFL club) Hawthorn, and they were big on it (abstaining pre-game).”
The 30-year-old Hancock added: “A bigger concern for me is around players picking up COVID.
“We’re working towards something special this year, and I’ll be talking with the players about not going out on the town on a Saturday night as we get closer to finals time.”
Mildura Heat men’s basketball coach Calvin Henry, who played college basketball in the US, said he did not enforce any strict pre-game abstinence policy.
“But in my second year at college, there was a policy in place of no sex after midnight … but obviously no-one followed it,” he said with a laugh.
“My high school coach was also adamant about us not dating women before games.
“I had teammates (in the US) who liked to do it before a game because they felt it was helping them play better.
“Now, as a coach, I encourage the younger players, in particular, to have a professional approach and take care of their bodies and get to bed early before games.
“I don’t need to talk with the older guys as much about that sort of thing.”
Heat women’s coach James Madigan said that his players “know what the expectations are” about looking after themselves on game eve.
He said he “wouldn’t be pleased” if any of the players were out nightclubbing the night before a game.
“Everyone’s got a different way of prepping. Some may avoid it (sex), but others might go the other way during a quiet night at home,” the veteran coach said.
“To be honest, at our level (in the Big V), it’s not for me to tell the players what to do. But I wouldn’t like them out at two or three in the morning at nightclubs on the night before a big game.
“I’ve always communicated to the players what my expectations are, in terms of standards. And I expect the players to be looking after themselves before any game.”
